Building points for youth

[kazpilot25]

At what age can you start putting your kids in to build up their bonus points? I have a 5 year old daughter and want her to have some good opportunities when she's old enough to hunt.

[rossislider]

I really don't think you can start till they are 10. I would also love to hear from someone that knows for certain. Will the AZGFD website allow you to buy a license for someone under 9?

[Big Browns]

You can buy her a license and put her in the draw and take the chance that she doesn't draw. You can not buy her a bonus point until she turnes 10. A better option would be to have her mom or grand parents buy points. When she turns 10 her mom or grandparents can draw a tag and donate it to her. This is what I've been doing. I was told as long as a parent is with them the actual grand parent does not need to be with them.

 

Some people may not like this, but ultimately we need to keep the youth involved in hunting. I personally have no issue with it.

 

Adam

[kazpilot25]

I really don't think you can start till they are 10. I would also love to hear from someone that knows for certain. Will the AZGFD website allow you to buy a license for someone under 9?

 

That's what I figured, but thought someone might know for certain.

[kazpilot25]

You can buy her a license and put her in the draw and take the chance that she doesn't draw. You can not buy her a bonus point until she turnes 10. A better option would be to have her mom or grand parents buy points. When she turns 10 her mom or grandparents can draw a tag and donate it to her. This is what I've been doing. I was told as long as a parent is with them the actual grand parent does not need to be with them.

 

Some people may not like this, but ultimately we need to keep the youth involved in hunting. I personally have no issue with it.

 

Adam

 

 

I thought about that. I just figured it's a lot cheaper to buy a youth license every year than an adult license for someone who won't be using it. I guess I'm just a cheapskate.

[Big Browns]

Unfortunately Arizona is not youth friendly!!!!!!!!!! I still don't understand why the Eastern half of the us allows kids to hunt at 5 years old and the Western half of the us doesn't allow them to hunt until they are 10-14 years old. I also don't understand why we give way to many late Bull tags to the general hunt and ZERO to the youth hunters. Seems a little biast to me!!!!!!!!!!!

[8OWHUNT247]

I would love to hear the actual rule. I am too late to do anything about it now since my youngest is about to be 11.

 

I am curious too though. I would love to see more youth tags given out.

[SunDevil]

I could be wrong but I did not think a kid could apply unless they would be 10 prior to their hunt.

 

Are you saying you could put a kid in for hunts from birth to 9 and as long as they did not draw (strip for MD, antelope, unit 9 for elk) they would have 9 - 10 points by age 10?

[azelkhunter2]

You can not legally purchase a hunting license for anyone under the age of ten, Unless they will be 10 yrs of age prior to the start of the hunt and will have completed the required hunter education corse. The dept will not issue a hunter education card to anyone under the age of ten. You may find an instructor that will allow the child to take the class prior to their 10th b-day but they cant turn in the paperwork until they turn 10 yrs of age.

[IA Born]

You can not legally purchase a hunting license for anyone under the age of ten, Unless they will be 10 yrs of age prior to the start of the hunt and will have completed the required hunter education corse. The dept will not issue a hunter education card to anyone under the age of ten. You may find an instructor that will allow the child to take the class prior to their 10th b-day but they cant turn in the paperwork until they turn 10 yrs of age.

 

Only partially true. Kids can take Hunter Ed at the age of 9 so they can hunt when they are 10. We instructor's don't have discretion to tell a 9-year old they can't take the class and we have to turn in all paperwork immediately. They get their hunter ed card shortly after now (used to be in class), but it is not valid until they turn 10.

 

I honestly don't know if you can buy them a license and put them in for the draw at age 5, but I know you can at age 9 as long as they turn 10 before the hunt. A year ago, I put my daughter in for the 12A turkey hunt because her birthday was a week too late for the opening of the youth hunt. She turned 10 on the opening day of the general hunt and was completely legal.

 

I'm with Big Browns on the youth tags. We need to have more opportunities for youth hunters to get out there. A 22% draw rate for youth hunts (elk) gets discouraging and I know a few kids who've lost interest in hunting because they still hadn't gotten drawn after 4 years. Also like Big Browns, I've been buying bonus points for my wife with the idea of her getting drawn and transferring the tag.

[rossislider]

I could be wrong but I did not think a kid could apply unless they would be 10 prior to their hunt.

 

Are you saying you could put a kid in for hunts from birth to 9 and as long as they did not draw (strip for MD, antelope, unit 9 for elk) they would have 9 - 10 points by age 10?

I experienced this last year with my son and my buddy's son. My son turned 10 a month prior to the junior deer hunt we wanted to apply for. His son turned 10 on the second day of the hunt. We thought we would put them in and just starting hunting on his birthday, day 2 of the hunt. We tried to apply on line but the the online app would not let us proceed because he would not have been 10 by day 1 of the hunt.

[Big Browns]

You can not legally purchase a hunting license for anyone under the age of ten, Unless they will be 10 yrs of age prior to the start of the hunt and will have completed the required hunter education corse. The dept will not issue a hunter education card to anyone under the age of ten. You may find an instructor that will allow the child to take the class prior to their 10th b-day but they cant turn in the paperwork until they turn 10 yrs of age.

 

Maybe I've been given wrong information by the G&F. I have specifically asked G&F this question and was told you can buy a licese for a child at any age. Sounds weird, but that's what I've been told.

[IA Born]

 

You can not legally purchase a hunting license for anyone under the age of ten, Unless they will be 10 yrs of age prior to the start of the hunt and will have completed the required hunter education corse. The dept will not issue a hunter education card to anyone under the age of ten. You may find an instructor that will allow the child to take the class prior to their 10th b-day but they cant turn in the paperwork until they turn 10 yrs of age.

 

Maybe I've been given wrong information by the G&F. I have specifically asked G&F this question and was told you can buy a licese for a child at any age. Sounds weird, but that's what I've been told.

 

 

The more I think about it, the more I believe that's right (you can buy a license for youth under 10). I'm pretty sure we talked about this when I took the HE Instructor's Training. They can have their own bag limits on small game if they have their own license instead of having to hunt off an adult's license and get half the bag limit. Just not sure about buying bonus points or applying for big game to get the rejection and subsequent point.

 

Follow-Up: I just finally saw Sun Devil's post and that is correct.

[azelkhunter2]

My apologies I was referring to big game hunts only. You can purchase a hunting license at any age you just cant hunt a big game animal or obtain bonus points before age ten..I have not taught a hunter ed class in over ten yrs so things may have changed a little over the yrs but this is my understanding of the rules....